PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 5 
diseases peculiar to Northern Australia, and at the com- 
mencement of its existence was assisted by contributions 
from various Australian Universities. It is now supported 
by an annual grant of £4,000 from the Federal Government, 
as well as one of £500 from the Queensland Government. 
This is a direct recognition of the value to a country of 
systematic scientific research, and one might express a 
hope that this policy will be extended to the furtherance 
of research in other directions. That the results obtained 
by this institute may be as successful, and as advantageous 
to the people of Australia, as similar investigations under- 
taken in Africa and Central America have heen to the © 
inhabitants of those regions, is, Iam sure, the wish of every. 
member of this Society. 
A research of considerable importance now being under- 
taken at Cobar in this State, under the direction of the 
Rev. Edward F. Pigot, S.J., B.A., of the Riverview College 
Observatory, Sydney, is the investigation of the elastic 
rigidity of the earth, derived from the tidal deformation 
of our planet by the sun and the moon. This research on 
the “‘body-tides”’ or ‘‘earth-tides ’’ has been in progress in 
HKurope for a number of years, andinthe hands of more recent 
investigators, e.g., Schweydar (Heidelberg), Orloff (Dorpat), 
and above all, Hecker (Potsdam), remarkable results have 
been obtained by horizontal pendulums of extreme sensi- 
bility, with photographic registration. The curves obtained 
have, however, exhibited certain anomalous secondary 
features, and with the view of investigating these, a Com- 
mission of the International Seismological Association was 
appointed. The commission is establishing research 
stations in Asia, Africa, North America, and Australia, in 
addition to the Huropean stations already existing. The 
stations must be at a sufficient distance from the coast to 
avoid disturbing influences of the oceanic tidal wave, and 
